Sri Lanka vs. South Africa, 1st ODI: Highlights, Scorecard and Report

South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 75 runs in the first ODI at Colombo. The South Africans were buoyed by a stunning display with the bat that culminated in setting Sri Lanka the task of surpassing 304 runs.

That healthy total was established by AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla. The pair of thunderous hitters combined to amass 184 runs, per Sky Sports, with Amla topping the century.

The ICC Twitter feed credited the duo as the main inspiration for South Africa's win:

Despite a speedy start and a sparkling 88 from Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka lost their last five wickets for 13 runs and were left to rue the tactical mistakes they made in the first half of the match. They put down de Villiers on 17 and Amla on 49, which cost them, but Angelo Mathews seemed overly reliant on the notion South Africa would struggle against spin. He held his seamers back to his own detriment.

Keeping the seamers off the field particularly suited de Villiers, who has struggled against that type of bowling at times. However, it was a devilish spinner from the productive Ajantha Mendis that eventually caught him out.

Eventually, Sri Lanka took their turn at the wicket. Even with more than 300 to claw back, Sri Lanka's ample batting talent made that tall order a possibility.

It was Kumar Sangakkara who made the best effort, as Sky Sports noted: "Kumar Sangakkara largely carried Sri Lankan hopes of pulling off the testing run-chase but, after he was dismissed for 88 in the 38th over, the writing was on the wall, and it was all over three overs later as the hosts were skittled for 229."

Eranga Jayawardena/Associated Press

Kumar Sangakkara did his best to torment the South Africans.

The left-hander played some beautiful and clever strokes to amass runs in chunks early on. In fact, he finished just 12 short of the century.

South African had leg-break bowler Imran Tahir to thank for preserving their lead. He claimed three wickets.

He was aided by McLaren, who contributed two wickets of his own, including seeing off Sangakkara:

WICKET! Imran Tahir gets the danger man Jayawardene, caught behind for 10. SL 122/3. Now we need to get Sangakkara out #proteafire#slvsa